Reaching Out: Investigating Different Modalities to Help People with Visual Impairments Acquire Items

We present a lab study of multiple feedback designs for guiding small-scale arm-and-hand movement for people with visual impairments (PVI), so that they can reach out to and grasp an item on a shelf. Little attention has been paid to the guidance of small-scale arm-and-hand movements by PVI, yet this is an essential element of product acquisition in a grocery shopping task and other similar daily activities. We developed a feedback interface that allowed us to explore two types of auditory feedback (speech and tones), haptic vibration feedback, and a combination of both. The result of the study demonstrated that the multi-modal navigational feedback, specifically speech and haptic, was the most effective and preferred mode for small-scale navigation.